Cape Town - Of the more than one million births recorded for 2021, over 60% were registered without the details of fathers.
This is according to the Recorded Live Births 2021 report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Tuesday.
A total of 1 087 526 births were registered in South Africa in 2021. Of these, 949 757 (87,3%) were births that occurred and were registered in 2021 (current birth registrations), while 137 769 (12,7%) were births that occurred in the previous years but were registered in 2021.
Of the total of 949 757 children born in 2021, there were 498 573 boys and 491 056 girls.
The report showed a high proportion of births registered later than the year of occurrence was observed for age groups 50−54 years (64,4%) and 10−14 years (32,7%), which was consistent with previous years. The Western Cape had the highest sex ratio at 103 male birth registrations per 100 female births.
“The pattern on birth occurrences for the period 1998–2021 shows that since 2004, the number of registered births exceeded a million, with the exception of the four years (2015–2021) where the number of birth occurrences registered were less than 1 million. With regards to status of birth registration, mothers aged 25−29 and those aged 30−34 years as well as 35−39 years had approximately 90% of their births registered within the year of occurrence,” Stats SA found.
Hope the Future founder, Vanessa Nelson said: “I found in the work that I do that girls gravitate towards men through them having absent fathers – because mom is playing the role of both mother and father, and as a mother you are not always able to step into the role completely as a father.
“The girl has a void; they fall into a trap with a guy. Because they have absent fathers, they are vulnerable.”
She added that many teenage pregnancies were as a result of statutory rape but not enough was being done to address the issue.
The Growing Up Without A Father South African Foundation’s (GWFSAF) Dr Charley Pietersen said the problem of absent fathers was a global pandemic.
“I believe the education system is not putting emphasis on the consequences of underage sex that leads to HIV/AID or teenage pregnancy, while kids face pressure from their peers.
“We also need to include men in the department of women and children so we can speak with one voice. We need to get male role models to communicate and educate other boys. We should go to churches and shebeens which people frequent the most. A coordinated approach is needed. That’s why cabinet must drive it,” he said.
Cape Times